AMD FirePro W600 vs AMD Radeon HD 8850M Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data clearly separates these two GCN 1.0 era AMD cards. The AMD Radeon HD 8850M is the stronger performer in the recorded OpenCL workload, scoring 7447 against the FirePro W600's 6223. That is a 19.7% advantage, a decisive margin in raw compute. The database places the HD 8850M in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, while the FirePro W600 sits at the 36th percentile.

For a user prioritizing raw compute throughput in OpenCL applications, the Radeon HD 8850M is the clear choice. Its higher shading unit count, 640 versus 512, and its higher FP32 rating, 800.0 GFLOPS versus 768.0 GFLOPS, directly translate to its benchmark lead. The FirePro W600, however, is the pick for professional multi-display workloads. It offers 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, a feature the HD 8850M lacks entirely in the recorded data. The W600 also comes with a defined power envelope at 75 W TDP and a single-slot form factor, making it suitable for dense workstation configurations where the HD 8850M's physical and power specifications are not documented.

The data suggests two distinct use cases. The Radeon HD 8850M is for compute-focused tasks where raw GFLOPS matter. The FirePro W600 is for professional visualization and multi-monitor setups where connectivity and a low-profile, low-power design are paramount. Neither card is current; both are marked end-of-life, but their strengths are clearly differentiated. If the workload is purely about OpenCL performance, the HD 8850M wins. If the workload requires numerous display outputs and a known, low-power footprint, the W600 is the only option with that data.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs share the same fundamental architecture: GCN 1.0, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. They use the same transistor count of 1,500 million and the same die size of 123 mm², resulting in an identical transistor density of 12.2M per mm². The underlying silicon is essentially the same, but the configurations differ.

The Radeon HD 8850M is based on the Venus chip, while the FirePro W600 uses the Cape Verde chip. The key architectural difference lies in the execution resources. The HD 8850M is equipped with 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 16 raster operation pipelines (ROPs). The FirePro W600, in contrast, has fewer shading units at 512, fewer TMUs at 32, but retains the same 16 ROPs. This reduction in shader and TMU count directly explains the W600's lower FP32 compute rating of 768.0 GFLOPS compared to the HD 8850M's 800.0 GFLOPS.

Interestingly, despite having fewer compute units, the FirePro W600 achieves a higher pixel rate. The W600 is rated at 12.00 GPixel/s, while the HD 8850M is rated at 10.00 GPixel/s. This suggests a difference in clock behavior or ROP efficiency that is not fully detailed in the recorded specifications. The texture rate is nearly identical, with the HD 8850M at 25.00 GTexel/s and the W600 at 24.00 GTexel/s, which is a small 4% difference.

Memory architecture is identical. Both cards feature 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, running at 1000 MHz with 4 Gbps effective speed, yielding a bandwidth of 64.00 GB/s. API support is also the same, with both offering DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The primary architectural takeaway is that the HD 8850M is a fuller implementation of the Venus/Cape Verde design, with more shading and texture units, while the W600 is a cut-down version optimized for professional display output rather than raw compute.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8850M. It scores 7447 in the geekbench_opencl test, which is 19.7% higher than the AMD FirePro W600's score of 6223.

Q: How many display outputs does the FirePro W600 support?

A: The FirePro W600 supports 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. The Radeon HD 8850M has no display output information recorded in the database.

Q: What is the power consumption of the FirePro W600?

A: The FirePro W600 has a TDP of 75 W. No TDP data is available for the Radeon HD 8850M in the database.

Q: Do both cards support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes. Both the AMD Radeon HD 8850M and the AMD FirePro W600 support DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8850M has 640 shading units, while the AMD FirePro W600 has 512 shading units.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: No. Both the AMD Radeon HD 8850M and the AMD FirePro W600 are marked as end-of-life products in the database.

Specification Differences

The following specifications differ between the two cards. The Radeon HD 8850M is listed first, the FirePro W600 second.

• Chip: Venus vs. Cape Verde
• Generation: Solar System (HD 8800M) vs. FirePro GCN (Wx000)
• Shading Units: 640 vs. 512
• Texture Mapping Units: 40 vs. 32
• Pixel Rate: 10.00 GPixel/s vs. 12.00 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 25.00 GTexel/s vs. 24.00 GTexel/s
• FP32 Performance: 800.0 GFLOPS vs. 768.0 GFLOPS
• TDP: Not recorded vs. 75 W
• Slot Width: Not recorded vs. Single-slot
• Power Connectors: Not recorded vs. None
• Suggested PSU: Not recorded vs. 250 W
• Display Outputs: Not recorded vs. 6x mini-DisplayPort 1.2
• Dimensions: Not recorded vs. 168 mm (6.6 inches) length, 111 mm (4.4 inches) height, 20 mm (0.8 inches) width
• Release Date: 2013-03-31 vs. 2012-06-12
• Predecessor: London vs. FirePro Terascale
• Successor: Gem System vs. Radeon Pro Polaris

Identical specifications include the architecture (GCN 1.0), process node (28 nm), foundry (TSMC), transistor count (1,500 million), die size (123 mm²), transistor density (12.2M / mm²), memory size (2 GB), memory type (GDDR5), memory bus width (128 bit), memory clock (1000 MHz, 4 Gbps effective), memory bandwidth (64.00 GB/s), ROPs (16), bus interface (PCIe 3.0 x16), and all API support levels.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head benchmark is the geekbench_opencl test. In this workload, the AMD Radeon HD 8850M decisively outperforms the AMD FirePro W600.

The HD 8850M scored 7447 points, while the FirePro W600 managed 6223 points. This yields a delta of 19.7% in favor of the HD 8850M. This is a substantial performance gap, aligning with the HD 8850M's hardware advantages: 25% more shading units (640 vs. 512) and 25% more TMUs (40 vs. 32). The FP32 rating difference, 800.0 GFLOPS versus 768.0 GFLOPS, is just over 4%, but the real-world benchmark gap is much larger, suggesting the additional execution resources have a compounded effect in the OpenCL test.

The FirePro W600 does have one bright spot in the specifications, its higher pixel rate of 12.00 GPixel/s versus 10.00 GPixel/s. However, this does not translate into a benchmark win, as the OpenCL test is compute-bound rather than pixel-bound. The W600's nearest rivals in the database, such as the AMD Radeon HD 6950 (score 6210, 0.2% lower) and the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (score 6282, 0.9% higher), are all clustered within a narrow band, confirming that the W600's performance level is accurately captured.

The HD 8850M's nearest rivals, including the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (score 7441, 0.1% lower) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (score 7472, 0.3% higher), show that it sits in a tightly contested performance tier. Its 19.7% lead over the W600 places it in a significantly higher performance bracket. The data shows a clear and consistent winner: the Radeon HD 8850M is the faster card for OpenCL compute tasks by a wide margin.